WHITE — A Sketch of the Life of Samuel White. 83 



A Sketch of the Life of Samuel White — 

 Ornithologist, Soldier, Sailor, and Explorer. 



By His Son, S. A. White, M.B.O.U. 



XIII. THE ORNITHOLOGIST AND SAILOR. 



Under the date of Monday, 28th of June, Samuel Whice 

 wroie: — "I did not get as many birds as I expected, returned 

 at noon to the yacht, and went out again this afternoon and 

 procured a few more. Andrews went out with the gun, 

 and after a short time in the scrub became quite exhausted. 

 Among the birds taken to-day were some beautiful parrots. 

 No Birds-of -Paradise yet, but a lot of plumes were offered to 

 me to-day, and fifteen shillings a piece was refused. Notwith- 

 standing I have been trying to persuade myself to the con- 

 trary I begin to be convinced that I have made a great mis- 

 take by not getting native gunners from Sydney or Thursday 

 Island. My white men are too soft and unaccustomed to the 

 climate to be of much use, and labour is not to be got here. 

 The crew have been cutting wood and bringing it off all day to 

 the vessel. The weather has been squally, and travelling 

 through the scrub very uncomfortable, as we were wet to the 

 skin all day ; shall only stay here to-morrow, the country is 

 too low." 



Next morning at sunrise Samuel White and his taxider- 

 mist (Andrews) landed with guns, and returned at noon, 

 Andrews only having four birds, while my father brought off 

 ten specimens. Andrews was too distressed to land in the 

 afternoon, but the owner of the vessel went off and brought 

 back several more birds. His other taxidermist (J. Cockerell) 

 remained on board owing to a bad foot, but he put the time in 

 curing specimens. Some traders visited the ship during the 

 day offering live parrots, also paradise plumes. In the even- 

 ing the native teacher, who was a man from Amboina, came 

 on board. My father writes: — "This native teacher is a very 

 quiet and well-behaved man. He, unfortunately, cannot 

 speak a word of English, but I am able to make myself under- 

 stood with a few words in Dutch. I made him a few presents 

 of coffee, tobacco, and a knife. I wished him to procure for 

 me a man to show me the nearest village, whe^e the natives 

 captured the great birds of paradise; but after making 

 enquiries, he said they would not come with me because they 

 were afraid. I believe they were afraid we were going to 

 interfere with their trade, as they do a good business in plumes. 



